Alternatives to Goose
Run an extensible AI assistant on your desktop or in a terminal. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
Goose
Run an extensible AI assistant on your desktop or in a terminal.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as Goose.
Witsy
Use AI models and MCP tools through a desktop assistant.
Witsy is an AGPL-3.0 desktop assistant that also uses MCP tools with local model servers or cloud APIs, but it has no terminal mode listed.
OpenCode
Work with an AI coding assistant from your terminal.
OpenCode is an MIT licensed terminal assistant focused on coding, supporting multiple model providers with charges separate from the client.
Crush
Terminal coding agent that works with whichever large language model you point it at.
Crush is an MIT licensed terminal agent for any OpenAI- or Anthropic-compatible API, centered on coding with language server context and mid-session model switching.
Claude Code
Agentic coding tool that reads a codebase, edits files and runs commands.
Claude Code is a closed source coding agent requiring a paid Claude plan or API credits, available in terminal, IDEs, desktop and web.
GAIA
AMD's open-source app for building and running local AI agents on Ryzen AI PCs.
GAIA is AMD's open-source local agent app with an installer and terminal interface, but it runs on Windows and is built around Ryzen AI PCs.
LobeHub
AI agent workspace for building, scheduling and chatting with agents across many models.
LobeHub moves agents to a web or self-hosted workspace with scheduling and MCP marketplaces, under a source-available license rather than Apache-2.0.
MindsHub (formerly MindsDB)
Open source agent workspace for research, coding and business tasks.
MindsHub is an MIT-licensed web and self-hosted agent workspace across multiple providers, recently rebranded from MindsDB.
Cherry Studio
Use several AI providers from one desktop chat application.
Cherry Studio is an AGPL-3.0 desktop chat app for several providers and local servers with document conversations, focused on chat rather than tool extensions.
Also worth comparing
These listings name Goose as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.
Aider
AI pair programming in a terminal, working directly on your git repository and committing as it goes.
Goose is an Apache-2.0 assistant for desktop or terminal that connects model providers to tools through MCP extensions, rather than focusing on git commits.
Open Interpreter
A command-line coding agent built to work with open language models such as Kimi and GLM.
Goose is an Apache-2.0 extensible assistant for desktop or terminal that connects model providers with tools through MCP extensions, not only coding tasks.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
Ollama
The simplest way to pull down an open language model and run it on your own machine, from one command or a desktop app.
LM Studio
A polished desktop app for downloading, running and chatting with local language models, with an OpenAI-compatible server built in.
Chatbox
A desktop and mobile chat client for AI models, where you supply your own API keys or point it at a local model.
Langflow
Visual builder for creating and deploying AI agent workflows.
